Don’t Freeze Your Ass Off: Cordless Heated Jacket

As it starts to turn cold here in Texas — and already IS cold in the great white North — our thoughts turn to how to keep shop nights from turning into cold misery. So when TM reader Dana tipped us off to this unusual Milwaukee product, it got our attention. Behold the M12 Cordless Heated Jacket.

According to Milwaukee, it’s pretty much like any standard multi-layered soft shell jacket, with a twist: Plug in one of your M12 li-ion batteries and you power up three resistance heat zones designed to distribute heat to your core areas. It features three heat settings as well as an all-out “warm me up” feature for when you waited a little too long to put the jacket on. The battery fits in a special holder pocket on the back side of the jacket. Expect around six hours of warmth per charge — though you can always just kipe another battery from a co-worker to finish out the job in comfort.

What makes this appeal to me over other resistance heat winter clothing is its normal appearance. It’s a pretty stylish jacket, so you don’t look like a nut wearing it. And hey, you won’t mind the extra weight of the battery because your wallet will be lighter. Expect to pay around $170 for the kit complete with a battery and charger.

22 Responses to Don’t Freeze Your Ass Off: Cordless Heated Jacket

This looks like a pretty nice jacket and the price seems in line considering you get the battery and charger with the jacket. 6 hours of “warm time” is pretty good too. If only DeWalt would come out with a nice looking heated jacket for those 18 volt batteries. Several years ago I started building up my DeWalt 18V collection so have a lot of those batteries as well. Of course, the DeWalt version would have to be in stylish yellow and black!

Quick look on the intertubes finds this sweet jacket for $107.10 + $6.50 shipping for a total of $113.60. Sounds like if you want one, act fast – it is a sale. But the savings of about $55 has me ready to get one.
Here’s the site for those who want it:http://www.tools-plus.com/milwaukee-2330.html

@antkn33
Sorry. I failed to notice that “fine print” stuff. Thanks for pointing it out. And, since I don’t have any Milwaukee tools, I’ll just have to wait for DeWalt to get on board.
Ass “Matt” says, “Just like a heated jacket used on motorcycles. I like it.” Me too.

Our opeartions that use our M12 tools are luckily focused on interior work – mostly on heated jobsites – otherwise I could see a lot of the new Red Lithium batteries being purchased to “feed” these kjackets. Seroiusly though – while its probably not the first of a kind – this seems like an innovative idea for a toolmaker/marketer.

BTW – should we expect to see prices dropping on the old-style M12 batteries – as Milwaukee switches over to the new Red Lithium? – I don’t think the newer batteries have hit the market yet as a standalone item.

Swell idea, but the three heat zones are one each side of the front and the back. The first place I always feel the cold is the top of the shoulders. Where I don’t produce heat and the jacket makers don’t add extra insulation to allow for Gravity’s packdown effect.

Following up with Fred’s question, is it safe to assume that the Red Lithium batteries will have a different model number?

I just ordered a combo tool kit advertised to ship with Red Lithium batteries, but it looks as though it shipped with the old ones instead (Model number 48-11-2401). D’oh! (But more ticked off sounding.)

I can’t imagine Milwaukee shipping out the box without plastering “Red Lithium”!!! all over it.

Taylor, the model numbers for both the batteries and kits will not be changing. Milwaukee is doing a running change to the Red Lithium battery throughout their M12 and M18 Lines, meaning that as new kits and batteries are produced they will be shipping with the new Red Lithium batteries but the older batteries will still be sold by distributors that have previously stocked kits and batteries on their shelves. The only difference between the new Red Lithium battery and the older version M12 battery is that they will stand up to the cold weather and delivery a little more power. If you are working in a warm climate your older M12 batteries will work just fine.

I’d like to know what company makes this for Milwaukee. I think Warm & Safe makes a similar one. I’ve had an electric vest for over ten years now for riding my motorcycle & it makes the difference between riding & not riding. Except mine works off the bikes battery.

These are great for things like working in a shop or resort skiing, where recharging is just an outlet away. And it might be useful for SAR, to help hypothermic rescuees regain body heat. But in backcountry, a dead battery could put you in a bad way. Regular insulation might be bulkier, but it will never peter out.